250 THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



lower ones shorter and blunt, with a narrow wing running down the stem to 

 the base. The spore masses, slightly immersed, are disposed in one row on 

 each side of the midvein. When dry the fronds emit a very pleasing almond 

 odour. — Hooher^ Species Fillcum, v., p. 97. Nicholson, Dictionary/ of Gardening, 

 iii., p. 195. 



P. (Phegopteris) Wrightii- — Phe-gop'-ter-is ; Wright'-i-i (Wright's), Baker. 

 This stove species, of small dimensions, produces from an upright-growing 

 rootstock of a woody nature its spear-shaped, simply -pinaaate fronds, which 

 are 6in. to 9in. long, and borne on tufted grey stalks of similar length. The 

 stalked leaflets are square and eared on the upper side, wedge-shaped and 

 maimed on the lower side at the base ; they are of a rigidly leathery texture, 

 dull green in colour, and naked on both sides. The sori (spore masses) are 

 disposed in a single row not far from the edge of the leaflets. — Hooker, 

 Synopsis Filicum, p. 304. 



P. Xiphias — Xiph'-i-as (swordfish), Moore. 



The specific name of this very curious stove Fern refers to the peculiar 

 shape of its fronds, which in outline resemble the figure of the swordfish. It 

 is a native of the South Pacific Islands. The plant is provided with a wide- 

 creeping rhizome, about as thick as a goose-quill, and clothed with brownish 

 scales, from which the fronds, Ift. or more long, 4in. across in their widest 

 part, and terminating in a tail-like appendage about Sin. long, are produced. 

 The fronds gradually narrow downwards, with a slight wing extending to the 

 very base, being elliptic-oblong in shape, of a firm though not leathery 

 texture, and somewhat undulated. at the edge. The tail-appendage and about 

 one-third of the base of the frond are barren, but the rest of the under- 

 surface is copiously and pretty equally dotted over with medium-sized, round 

 sori (spore masses), which, though apparently irregularly disposed, in reality 

 form thinly-furnished lines, four in number, between the main veins, the lines 

 becoming lost towards the margin of the frond. — Moore, Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 1881, p. 331. Nicholson, Dictionary of Gardening, iv., p. 592. 



P. zeylanicum — zey-lan'-ic-um (Cingalese), Mettenius. 



A stove species, of medium dimensions, native of Ceylon, provided with 

 a strong, wide-creeping rhizome clothed with broad, grey scales. Its entire 



